Even if you’re fairly capable with numbers, you probably need help with managing your business finances. Some small businesses have an outsourced accountant, perhaps someone who comes to do payroll once a month, or maybe an in-office bookkeeper. Other larger businesses might have more permanent financial staff and even a full finance department to keep things ticking along.
These people help to keep your business running by making sure you get the numbers right, so it’s important to invest in them. Take a look at how you could make improvements to your finance staff for a better business.
Find New Employees or Outsourcing
The first thing you might consider doing is assessing your current services or workforce. Whether you outsource all your accounting or you have someone in-house, it’s important that you’re receiving quality work for what you’re paying.
If standards aren’t up to scratch, it might be the right time to consider switching to a different service or replacing the employee(s) you have. Perform employee reviews or an assessment of the outsourcer you use to check that you’re getting what you pay for. Although finding someone else could cost you money, it might be worth it in the long-term.
Pay for Training and Education
Replacing your staff isn’t the only way to improve them. If you like their attitude and work ethic but think their skills and knowledge need a boost, you can consider offering training or further education. This helps to improve employee retention and gets you employees with the skills your business needs.
You might just offer short courses on using the latest software, or maybe you could go as far as to pay for part or all of an online MBA Finance degree for one of your employees. In return for some types of training, you can require that employees work for you for a certain time. If they want to leave sooner, they pay back the cost of their training or education.
Bring In External Advisors
People can often learn new things from other people coming into the company. Sometimes it’s a good idea to use independent advisors or auditors to take a look at your business’s finances. They can make recommendations concerning practices and organization, and help to spot any problems your company might have. Your financial staff can learn from them and perhaps change the way they do things once they’re gone.
Expand Your Finance Department
You might also want to consider adding to the staff you have who are responsible for your business’s finances. It can be useful to have more people who can take on specific roles so that there isn’t anyone responsible for too much.
Perhaps you currently outsource a lot of your financial tasks, but you would prefer if it were all handled in your office instead. If you can afford to take on permanent employees, whether they’re full-time or part-time, you can integrate them into your business successfully.
If you feel like your business’s numbers could be crunched better, it could be time to make some improvements to your financial staff or services.